As I admired it, I thought it reminiscent, even derivative of a favorite artwork of mine by Matisse. I recall seeing that one decades ago at the Tate Gallery in London. A giant collage (about ten feet tall) from late in Matisse's life, when his eyesight was failing:

I had planned to post them for comparison, and to share my admiration for both. But when I saw them side-by-side, the similarity clarified. I realized that the new one was EXACTLY the same composition as the Matisse, rotated 90 degrees.

Is this fraud? If the new piece has been titled "Homage to Collage" or "Matisse in Blue", I would think the artist wasn't trying to hide the copying. But I wonder whether anyone realized that the artist copied almost every aspect of a famous work to sell her artwork. Perhaps everyone involved knew that this is a re-colored reprint. If not, it seems to be an embarrassment for the "sophisticates" who failed to spot a copy hiding in plain sight.

As too many people say about abstract expressionist art: "Even I could have done THAT!"

We need a Charles-Johnson-esque animated GIF of those two paintings with one rotated 90 degrees so they line up exactly with each other...except we can’t count on him to do it because he’s reverted to his ponytailed liberal pre-9/11 self and is fully sniffing Obama’s Skittles-scented farts.

}:-)4

47
posted on 10/08/2009 12:21:21 PM PDT
by Moose4
(Ted Kennedy: "If they bring up Camelot, we get to bring up the lady in the lake.")

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